Femi Falana SAN, Chair of the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), has sharply criticised the Nigerian government and the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) for their handling of the persistent issue of fuel smuggling.
Falana said this in a press statement released on Monday in the wake of comments by Heineken Lokpobiri, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, who at the 2024 Energy and Labour Summit in Abuja, conceded that smuggling could not be entirely eradicated.
Lokpobiri had highlighted that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) lacks the necessary funds to rebuild the nation’s deteriorating pipelines, which has contributed to the problem. He noted that the old, corroded pipelines, some of which date back to the 1960s and 1970s, are easily vandalised, facilitating the illegal transport of fuel, adding that if NNPC imports PMS and sells to marketers at perhaps N600 or below, there’s no way that smuggling can stop, pointing to complicity among security agents as another contributing factor.
Despite these admissions, Falana’s argued that the Minister’s justifications are misleading and criticised the government’s past failures in addressing the issue. He recalled, “In 2010, the federal government and a private company, TPMS, operated the policy on the basis of a PPP arrangement. Even though the system dealt a heavy blow to smuggling of petrol and oil theft, the arrangement was terminated in 2011.”
Falana pointed out that subsequent efforts to restore effective monitoring systems have been thwarted, and funds allocated for technological improvements were misappropriated.
The statement also addressed recent government contracts awarded on July 13, 2024, including a $21 million contract for metering 187 crude oil flow stations and deploying software for tracking petroleum products. Falana questioned the effectiveness of these measures, stating, “Having awarded contracts for the metering of 187 crude oil flow stations… the Federal Government cannot turn around to say that oil theft and smuggling of petrol out of Nigeria will continue unabated.”
Falana’s also criticised the rising cost of petrol, which has surged from less than N700 per litre in July to over N1,000 in August.
He then called for greater transparency and accountability, urging that, “Mr. Lokpobiri should be advised to stop exposing Nigeria to ridicule by saying that the federal government lacks the capacity to curb the nefarious activities of smugglers.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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